Who Are The Developers In WCID#89?

Arthur Washington, VP of WCID#89, and I attended the Brunswick Lakes HOA monthly meeting last night. An interesting discussion arose about responsibilities of the Developers versus the District in maintaining the neighborhood amenities. I thought you might find this of interest, regarding who developed what neighborhood within WCID#89 and what these developers are supposed to be doing.

In general, activities of a developer in a municipal utility district (MUD) such as WCID#89, include acquiring land for development; defining a marketing program; planning and scheduling development; securing adequate funds for development; arranging for design and construction of utilities, streets, amenities, and other improvements; and, selling developed and undeveloped land to other developers, investors, and others. Ordinarily, the developers pay 100% of the costs of paving and amenity design and construction.

The developer of Morningside Place Section 2 was Fellows Eight Development Ltd. who developed 20 acres into 103 single family residential lots during 2003 and 2004. Lennar Homes was the builder and built out these 103 homes in 2005. Morningside Place Section 2 also includes 25 acres of commercial property which PODS personal storage facility now occupies.

The developer of Brunswick Meadows is 308 Furman (a limited partnership with Lennar Homes serving as general partner) and entered into sales contracts with Trophy Homes and Gehan Homes to build out the 15 sections in this neighborhood.

245 Brunswick Lakes Ltd. is a corporation controlled by Joe Fogarty, who has been active in Houston area land development for over 25 years, and is the developer for Brunswick Lakes, sections 1, 2, 3, and 5.  Royce Homes was the builder contracted for these lots.

Finally is Brunswick Place LP, the developer for what was Brunswick Lakes sections 7-9. The president of Brunswick Place LP is Tom Moughon, who has also been active in real estate development in the Houston area for over 20 years. Choice Homes and D.R. Horton Homes are building out these lots.

A Not So Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the AWBD Conference

All the WCID#89 Board members attended the summer Association of Water Board Directors (AWBD) conference in San Antonio last month. Travel expenses were reimbursed, but I decided to stay with my sister who lives in San Antonio rather than a hotel in order to save the District some money. Unfortunately, I had a minor fender bender on the way to the first day of the conference. It was in stop & go traffic and the guy in front of me stopped, but I just kept going.

I was in my little Hyundai Accent. The guy I hit was in a beer distributing super van. His bumper had a couple of little scratches but here's how my car looked.
Was over $3000 to repair because it busted the radiator, and I wound up with 2 broken ribs and a nasty little shoulder/neck "soft tissue" injury. OUCH!!!!!! I was shocked at the amount of damage done since I was only going about 10 mph.

Believe it or not, I did attend the conference despite missing the Key Note address and the party hosted by the water company on Friday night. Got a rental car to get back home on Saturday and left my car in San Antonio at a place called Miracle Body & Paint. They do something called discounting deductibles. They give you a discount on your insurance deductible equal to 15% of the labor charge for the repair. So, instead of paying $500 for the part that the insurance wouldn't cover, I only had to pay $265 as a deductible amount.

Well, once we returned to Houston, I requested that the Board approve my $265 deductible as an allowable travel expense for reimbursement. In my mind, it would have been about the same amount of money that a hotel bill would have been for the 2 nights, and I was traveling to the event center where the conference was held when it happened.

But the Board voted against allowing me reimbursement. I understood their reasons. Hotel bills and insurance deductibles simply aren't the same thing, regardless if they are in the same ballpark money-wise. I was at fault in the accident, and even though I was on my way to the conference, it was a stretch to claim the out-of-pocket expense for my wreck as a reimbursable travel expense.

So, even though it cost me, I was glad to have been at the conference. I attended a seminar called "Directors 101" that was an introduction for new directors and had excellent information about the legal aspects of MUDs, the role of consultants, duties of directors, etc. I also purchased a book called Water Board Director's Handbook, which is specifially designed for new directors. I'm still reading through it, but I've learned a LOT from it as well.

I also had a very educational experience walking around the exhibitor hall and talking with all the various vendors who contract with MUDs. Had a lengthy discussion with a guy about various chemicals that are used in purifying the groundwater supply and spoke with several waste collection companies about recyclying programs. I followed up with these contacts when I returned to Houston and got all kinds of information on implementing recycling in our district. At the District meeting on July 20th we had presentations from two of these contacts, and I'm still working with our current vendor, Waste Management, about what they have to offer. Hopefully we can get a recycling program started soon.

Reports Are In - Water is SAFE!

After reviewing the actual test results taken over the last 15 months, I am happy to report that the problem with the water WCID#89 had 3 years ago is now a thing of the past. I will continue to filter my kitchen sink water, though, because I've gotten used to the way it tastes filtered. And the replacement filters are found on eBay fairly cheap. But the more expensive filters on my shower heads I feel confident do not require replacing any longer. HOORAY!

For those who are still experiencing discoloration or odor in their water, please contact me and I will ask the water company to flush the lines. This is more likely to happen to those who live in the northern sections of Brunswick neighborhoods because they are the farthest away from Morningside where the water is stored. Flushing the lines helps, but is a temporary solution. In the future there will be another water storage facility built in Brunswick Meadows and that should help eliminate the problem.

I always just took it for granted that when I turned on the tap or flushed the toilet it just worked. Well, you 'd be truly amazed at what it takes to treat the sewage that comes out of our houses and how complex the system is for bringing water into our homes. I have a whole new respect for the word "infrastructure" :--)

More on 2009 Water Quality Report

The good news is that the Drinking Water Quality report for 2009 reflects that overall our water, whether drawn from the ground sources (the well) or surface water (what we buy from the City of Houston) tested lower than the EPA guidelines for contamination. In fact most of the data shows our test results were well below the level that the State and Federal government consider problematic.

The not so good news is that there are two contradictory sets of statistics for the TTHM and HAA5 levels, which are created as a by-product of the chlorine put into the water to disinfect it. Test results on these factors that exceed certain levels can lead to various health problems for those who drink the water or use it for bathing. I have requested a copy of all test results for TTHMs and HAA5s taken in 2009 and 2010 to make sure that the concentration of TTHMs and HAA5s are not problematic in our water supply. Will post here what I find out. So stay tuned!